A Gift
by Taliesyn
Summary: A short fluff piece. Shep gives our favorite Quarian a gift.


The following event takes place during ME2 not long after Tali's arrival on the SR2.

I divided the room into sectors, my eyes sweeping each one in turn. Everything seemed to be ready so I contacted Tali.

"What can I do for you, Shepard?" she responded.

"When you have a moment can you meet me in the starboard lounge?" I asked, my voice level and middle register, playing Commander Shepard to the hilt.

"Of course, just let me finish what I'm working on and I'll be there in a few." Tali said and logged off.

I straightened the already straight cloth covering the surprise I had placed on the coffee table and sat down to wait. She arrived a few minutes later and I could tell by her body language that she was nervous.

"I was working balance adjustments on the secondary feed manifold when you called." She said, standing just inside the door.

"No problem. Come have a seat." I said, gesturing to a spot next to me on the couch.

She came forward and sat at the very edge of the seat glancing for a moment at the cloth covered shapes on the table. She turned her full attention to me as I began to speak.

"I made you something to commemorate your return to the Normandy." I said as I handed her a small box.

I had carefully wrapped the box in purple paper. I know she favors the color; it was always her color of choice back on the old Normandy. I don't know if it's a personal preference or has special symbolic meaning but I knew I'd guessed right when I met here again and her new environmental suit was also purple.

She turned the box over curiously several times and I realized that gift giving may not be a Quarian custom.

"Go ahead and open it." I said.

After a quick glance at me she removed the lid of the box. She was holding the box at an angle and the necklace had pooled in the lower half. Reaching into the box she delicately picked it up by the chain. She held it up so that the charm was at eye level.

"If I did my homework correctly that's the ancient Kellish symbol for perseverance. My ancestors were known as Celts and in their language that symbol also means home." I explained and then froze.

She had turned fully to face me and her glorious eyes locked me in place. Her eyes were always bright but I had never seen them glow with such intensity. We sat like that for an eternity.

"_Why doesn't she blink?"_ I thought, "_I know Quarians blink, I've watched her blink millions of time_."

Finally, I continued. "The metal for the symbol and chain came from samples we took together. Remember when you and Adams recovered the protean data disk from a satellite orbiting Binthu? The platinum samples we took from the planet were still sitting in my Specter locker on the Citadel. The stone itself comes from Rannoch."

I expected here to question that last statement and had an answer ready.

Instead, "Help me put it on." she said quietly holding the necklace out to me.

She sat very still as I pulled back the hood of her suit and carefully positioned the chain on the back of her neck below the input cables. I closed the clasp when I was sure I had it positioned were it would not rub or catch.

She settled back comfortably on the couch and tilting her head at a slight angle she purred, "You realize that we're now engaged?"

I jumped, startled, but recovered quickly. "Yes, and you accepted. No backing out." I said, struggling to keep the laughter out of my voice.

It was her turn to look nervous.

Pressing my advantage I asked, "What are Quarian marriage customs like anyway?"

Realizing, or at least suspecting, that I was messing with her she responded, "The couple to be married enter a sterile chamber together and in front of both clans they recite their wedding vows and then consummate the marriage. Both clans must bear witness for the marriage to be considered valid."

"_Oh, Tali_." I thought, "_You totally overplayed your hand with that last part_." Continuing my attack I said, "So how do we set this up?"

Her reply was instantaneous, "I'll contact the fleet. You have to reserve the chamber months in advance, there are very few available and the waiting lists can be long."

"OK, I'll contact my mom since she's the last member of my family left" I said.

Typing quickly I hammered out a letter and turned the screen so that Tali could read it:

/14324323.l0000 SSV Orizaba Attn: CPT Shepard

Dear Mom,

As you probably know by now the rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. The reason I'm writing is to let you know that I'm getting married and in order for the marriage to be recognized by her people I need you to be present. Be prepared as I think we may need to be skyclad.

Your loving son,

TS

I dramatically raised my right hand to press send but Tali pounced with a growled, "Bosh'tet!"

Laughing I wiped the screen and rose to my feet. With no place left to go in that conversation I decided to change subjects. With a move like a conjurer performing a trick I swept the cover from the table revealing two ancient stone tablets.

"I recovered these during a raid on an arms brokers vault." I declared. "One of them was damage in the firefight", I said, turning it over and pointing to a spot where a stay round had glanced off. "I used a piece that was chipped off to make the charm for your necklace." I concluded.

Leaning forward Tali began examining the tablets closely.

"These are incredibly old," she said, "they date back thousands of years. I don't even know what most of these hieroglyphics mean."

"Yes, when I saw them I knew I needed to recover them and return them to your people" I said as I set the tablet back down.

Tali spent a few more minutes on a close examination of the tablets but her attention soon returned to me. She walked up close to me and held the charm of her necklace up before my eyes.

"It obviously took you a lot of time and effort to make this," she said, moving even closer, "and you obviously gave it a lot of thought. Is there something you are trying to tell me? Something more than welcome back to the Normandy?"

She was speaking very gently but she was so close that I would have felt her breath on my face if not for her helmet.

"Yes," I replied, "I've been thinking about you a lot. Saying goodbye and letting you return to the fleet was one of the hardest things I've ever done."

Of its own volition my hand had risen and wrapped around Tali's joining us together around a piece of her home world. Tali startled at my response and her free hand rose in the air and fluttered around like a frightened bird. Gone was the quite voice of a moment before as she spoke in a nervous rush,

" But you never said anything. How was I supposed to know? Why didn't you say anything?"

"Tali," I said, "Your pilgrimage was important to you and I wanted you to go home in triumph and receive the acclaim of your people. _Without_ any whining from your old captain that might spoil your mood. I planned on contacting you after a few months to see how you were doing and see if we could arrange a meeting."

"But that didn't happen." She said somberly, placing the charm back on her chest and smoothing out the chain with one hand. She continued to look down, tracing one delicate finger over the stone, spelling out the word "home".

I placed my hand under her chin and slowly raised her head until her glowing eyes met mine.

"No. But I'm here now..." I started to say but I was interrupted when Tali received an emergency call.

"Sorry to bother you, Tali but we have a problem. That mad woman below decks is on a rampage and I think she's damaged one of the inlet guide vanes." Ken's voice came out the bulkhead speaker.

Heading toward the door I said over my shoulder, "I think this one's for me. We'll finish this later".

"_That went rather well_." I though as I hurried downstairs to keep Jack from destroying the ship.


End file.
